Forever young: visual functions not affected or minimally affected by aging: a review.

Six visual functions, once developed to adult levels of performance, have been noted to exhibit little or no alteration with aging (also see Appendix, Note 1). Those selected for more substantial discussions in this article are: (a) the Stiles-Crawford effect of the first kind (SCE-I), also known as the "directional sensitivity of the retina"; (b) specific vernier acuity paradigms (including alignment of two lines one with the other, and two- and three-point vernier alignment tasks); and (c) color vision-related perceptual constancies. Each of these functions has rather different origins in the visual system. The SCE incorporates optical waveguide photoreceptor properties and has both physical and physiological origins; vernier acuity (one of the hyperacuities) is largely the result of neural data processing mechanisms; and the color vision-related effects have their origins in retinal neural processes. Descriptions of additional visual functions minimally affected by age are presented as well. This recent research raises many questions. How can these visual responses be so stable, when so many other visual responses show decrements with aging? What does it mean if anomalous responses within the more stable functions are encountered in individuals? Can these age-resistant functions be employed to help sustain other functions in aging individuals? Are such relatively invariant functions limited to the visual system? Because of the stability of the reported responses with aging, these same relationships can be used as test controls for other studies of aging, and as benchmarks to distinguish between "normal" aging and disease processes.

Objective measurement of the off-axis longitudinal chromatic aberration in the human eye.

Longitudinal chromatic aberration (LCA) of the human eye has been studied repeatedly, but only at the fovea. Poor visual acuity prevents its subjective determination beyond a few degrees eccentricity. Consequently, we have used an objective approach, similar to that of Charman and Jennings [(1976). Vision Research 16, 999-1005], to measure ocular LCA across the visual field. To determine the validity of our double-pass approach, a direct comparison between objective and subjective results was established where possible, namely at the fovea and parafoveally (2.5 deg). In both cases we focused a monochromatic point source at four different wavelengths (458, 501.8, 543.5 and 632.8 nm). At the fovea, for a 3 mm pupil, we found a close match between subjective and objective results. However, as the subjective task became harder (off-axis or larger pupils), subjective results tended to yield slightly more myopic eyes than the results for objective refraction. In all cases, the offset was virtually independent of the wavelength used. Therefore, we have not found evidence of any biased estimates of the LCA, as determined objectively. Our foveal results show reasonable agreement with previous findings, except for slightly smaller amounts of LCA. Starting at the fovea, LCA tends to gradually increase with eccentricity, up to 40 deg, although such an increase is small, just approaching statistical significance. Computation of the LCA using a model eye predicts a slightly smaller increase with eccentricity.

Statistical distribution of foveal transverse chromatic aberration, pupil centration, and angle psi in a population of young adult eyes.

Subjective transverse chromatic aberration (sTCA) manifest at the fovea was determined for a population of 85 young adults (19-38 years old) by means of a two-dimensional, two-color, vernier alignment technique. The statistical distribution of sTCA was well fitted by a bivariate Gaussian function with mean values that were not significantly different from zero in either the horizontal or the vertical direction. We conclude from this result that a hypothetical, average eye representing the population mean of human eyes with medium-sized pupils is free of foveal sTCA. However, the absolute magnitude of sTCA for any given individual was often significantly greater than zero and ranged from 0.05 to 2.67 arcmin for the red and the blue lights of a computer monitor (mean wavelengths, 605 and 497 nm, respectively). The statistical distribution of the absolute magnitude of sTCA was well described by a Rayleigh probability distribution with a mean of 0.8 arcmin. A simple device useful for population screening in a clinical setting was also tested and gave concordant results. Assuming that sTCA at the fovea is due to decentering of the pupil with respect to the visual axis, we infer from these results that the pupil is, on average, well centered in human eyes. The average magnitude of pupil decentration in individual eyes is less than 0.5 mm, which corresponds to psi = 3 deg for the angle between the achromatic and the visual axes of the eye.

Stability of the Stiles-Crawford function in a unilateral amblyopic subject over a 38-year period: a case study.

The relative luminous efficiency curves for light entering different parts of the entrance pupil [Stiles-Crawford functions (SCFs)] of subject TG, whose right eye is amblyopic, were determined earlier for both the normal and the amblyopic eye. The left eye was found to have a normal SCF, varying from the center to the edge of the entrance pupil by an entire log unit. However, the SCF for the right eye was found to be abnormal, showing peak sensitivity far toward the temporal edge of the pupil and varying from center to edge by only one-third of a log unit. From these data it was inferred that the photoreceptors were in poor alignment. In October, 1993 the subject experienced a retinal detachment in the left (nonamblyopic) eye, requiring cryoretinopexy, drainage of subretinal fluid, and a scleral buckle. Postoperatively, visual acuity recovered to 6/9 to 6/7.5 (20/30 to 20/25), but vision was poor when illumination or contrast was low. In order to determine whether the decrement in visual performance was the result of misalignment of the photoreceptors, the subject's SCFs were determined 9 months postoperatively for both eyes, using a procedure similar to that used earlier. The relative luminous efficiency curves for both eyes were found to be surprisingly similar to the corresponding curves found 38 years earlier. It was concluded that any decrease in visual function resulting from the retinal detachment and repair was not caused by misalignment of the photoreceptors. We infer that the mechanisms resulting in the exceptionally high degree of photoreceptor alignment in the left eye and the disturbed alignment in the right eye are still present.